3. Themed Days - Primary Care

3.8. Respiratory disease

Aims

To introduce students to respiratory illness, its impact on patients, society and the practice workload; and to introduce students to health promotion measures designed to improve respiratory health.

Preparation

The Inhale website provides a breakdown of the impact of respiratory disease for each CCG area (in London many CCGs cover the same population as the local authority area) to find out which local authority your practice is in please see Directgov website and insert practice postcode.  A summary of the burden of respiratory disease can be found on the British Thoracic Society website.

For further information please visit Asthma UK  or British Lung Foundation. The British Lung Foundation exists to provide a complete package of support for people living with lung disease and the people who look after them, in hospital and at home.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the day students should be able to:

  • List common respiratory illnesses in children and adults that are seen in primary care
  • Describe the basic assessment of a child with an upper respiratory tract illness (URTI)
  • Describe and reflect on the impact of chronic respiratory disease from a patient's perspective, focusing on the issues of loss of function, autonomy, and well-being and its impact on daily life.
  • Outline the health promotion interventions, interventions, provided by the practice team to prevent or manage respiratory illness.
  • Demonstrate a basic examination of the respiratory system.
  • Demonstrate the measurement and interpretation of peak expiratory flow.

Suggested Activities

  • Tutorial on respiratory diseases and its impact on patients and the practice team's workload
  • Sit in on routine surgery and observe particularly respiratory presentations
  • Visit patient in pairs
  • Introduction to examination of the respiratory system, practice examination on each other
  • Debrief with GP and/or community tutor

Work to be included in the learning log

  • List of activities for Day 4
  • Reflective worksheet
  • Self-assessment on learning outcomes